Memorial Day weekend

Since no one else was staying at Grandma Hendricks' cabin over the holiday weekend, we stayed there but spent our days at Henry's Lake and at Aunt Rachel's cabin.

On Saturday, we met at the lake and tried fishing. We stayed until just after noon when it started raining on the sandwiches we had just made. We quickly finished our lunch and went to Rachel's for the rest of the day to play games, go on walks and visit.

 Seth and his manly Barbie pole. Actually, he was preparing it for Winnie to cast.

 Rebekah reading some H.P. Lovecraft and fishing.

Ana casting the fishing pole she won at the water festival for her poem. 

 Winnie munching on a gummy worm.

Miriam getting ready to cast.

On Sunday, we attended church in West Yellowstone and spent the day at Rachel's again.

Miriam was so sweet with Hudson during sacrament meeting.

Then on Monday we went back to Henry's to try our hand again. Cooper caught two fish in about as many minutes, but our girls came back empty-handed despite their best efforts. It was a heck of a lot windier that day, so we had to bundle up more.

 Rebekah fishing.

 Ana eating a brownie in between casts.

 Miriam on her designated chair.

Winnie on a walk.

Rocket day

Ana and her classmates were supposed to launch their rockets on Wednesday, May 22, but it was too rainy that morning. So instead they launched them Thursday, May 23. It started raining as soon as the sixth graders launched a second time, so that was a relief.

 Ana and Kailey with their rockets before their first launch.

In between her launches, I had to run inside for kindergarten parent reading day. The kindergarteners showed off all the things they had learned this year including counting, reading and singing.

Winnie singing "You're a Grand Old Flag" with her classmates. 

As soon as we ate our cookies, I ran back outside in time to watch Ana's second launch.

 She pushed the button, but hers was the only of the four rockets set to launch that didn't actually go. So she had to try it again.

 Mr. Jenkins, Emelia Bare, Samantha Park, Lilli Mickelsen and Ana prepare to launch their rockets. Ana's worked the second time.

 Ana catching her rocket. The kids get bragging rights if they're able to reach their rocket before it touches down. 

 Success! In her three years of launching rockets, she had never caught it before.

Ana and her purple rocket.

Ana is 12!

Ana's birthday fell on the Friday at the start of Memorial Day weekend, so between Mutual, Rebekah's last band concert, softball practice and that, we decided to have her family birthday dinner on Monday, May 19. She chose chicken salad for dinner.

Ana and I made a chocolate raspberry trifle.  

 Delicious layers of goodness.

The unicorn cupcake apron Grandma Scott gave her. 

The water bottle filled with ice (and $25) that Grandpa Dennis gave her. Ana also received a collage of four temples and a gold frame, a dress and a makeup bag (and makeup) from her family; a make your own pottery kit from Aunt McKall's family, and a Yellowstone hat from Aunt Rachel's family (which she got in Island Park when we visited their cabin the day after her actual birthday). 

Miri was in charge of decorating for the dinner. She made this from masking tape on the sidewalk out front. 

On her actual birthday, she went to school, then we stopped at Sonic in Rexburg on the way up to Grandma Hendricks' cabin in Island Park for a weekend of playing with cousins and fishing.

Ana at the cabin after eating a birthday donut for dessert. 

Sisters picture. 

Weird sisters.

Dance recital

Our dance studio had three classes of students, and one of our girls was in each class. That meant that every dance performed at their recital on Thursday, May 16 had a Grover girl in it. 

 Winnie in "Bang Dem Drums."

 Miri in "Weird People." the girls were supposed to come up with their own weird costumes. Miriam wore Seth's tiger shirt, and the sleeves flapped all around.

 Ana in "Kentucky Dirty."

Winnie jumping on the tramp in "Walk the Dinosaur" 

 Miri in "Juicy Wiggle."

Ana in "Mic Drop."

 Winnie in "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy."

Miri in "Giddy Up." 

Ana in "Party Time."

The finale at the dance recital. Miriam is off-camera most of the time. Seth had to set the camera up on the tripod so we could be some of the secret participants in the song. The dance teacher had emailed parents before and asked if they would be willing to dance for a little while. Then she told the girls it would be people in her family who danced. That's why Ana looks so concerned as she sees us heading up on the stage. She thought we misinterpreted signals from Cathy and came up at the wrong time. (I may have choreographed my moves ahead of time.)

 Andrea congratulating Miri after the recital.

 Winnie getting a hug from Aunt Jessica.

Seth giving Ana flowers.

Ana's track meet

As a sixth grader, Ana got to participate in the district's 6th grade track meet on Thursday, May 16. She ran the 100 and the 100 relay, and participated in the softball throw.

Ana and her cooling towel watching her classmates participate in races.

Ana running the 100.

Ana running the 100 relay.

 Passing the baton to Lilli.

Softball throw. 

Winnie eating her lunch while waiting for the softball throw to be finished. 

 Andrea telling Ana she did a good job after her events.

Easter

We made it back from Manti (see previous post) to have an Easter egg hunt and dinner at Grandma Scott's house on Sunday, April 21.

 Winnie running to her next egg in Grandma's back yard.

Miriam on the lookout for eggs.

Rebekah finding an egg at the base of a poplar tree.

 Ana poking her head out of the playhouse while searching for eggs. 

Winnie, Miri and Bennet opening their eggs to find nickles and candy inside.

 Ana and Bekah with their eggs.

 And because we were out of town right before Easter, we spent the evening after Easter coloring and decorating our eggs. These emoji stickers might be my favorite.